


We Could Be Heroes

by MaladaptiveDaydreamer



Category: Avengers, MCU, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - My Hero Academia, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Gen, Light Angst, My Hero Academia - Freeform, Other, Teen Avengers, mha - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 20:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20364712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaladaptiveDaydreamer/pseuds/MaladaptiveDaydreamer
Summary: When a young Bruce Banner is invited to attend UA, one of the most prestigious schools in the entire country, he isn't sure what to think until his cousin Jennifer manages to convince him to attend. When he starts classes, to his surprise, he ends up making some very great albeit kinda strange friends.





	We Could Be Heroes

It was a sunny Wednesday afternoon when a young Bruce Banner received a letter for the first time in several years. 

He was playing checkers with his cousin Jennifer Walters before discovering it. He was also losing for the 11th time in less than an hour.

“Quit using your quirk; that’s cheating!”

His cousin grinned smugly. “Who says I’m using my quirk?” She took out his second-to-last black piece on the board. Her grin grew 2 inches wider. “Maybe I’m just that good.”

Bruce groaned. He should have known playing a game that involved strategy with a psychic was a bad idea. “Hmmmmm.” He furrowed his brows in concentration, trying to think of where to move his last piece.

Jennifer was getting impatient. “Come on, I haven’t got all day!” Lie. She totally had all day.

Now Bruce was purposely stalling. “Hmmmmm. I just don’t know. If I move there, then your piece could kill mine. But if I move there….”

“UGHHHH,” a restless Jennifer slammed her head on the table. “Just move and lose already!” 

Bruce smirked as he picked up his last piece and hovered it over one spot. He pretended to thoroughly examine the board and think about his next move as though he was deciding which flavor of ice cream he should get.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, he decided to put his cousin out of her misery and dropped the piece on a square.

She lifted her head from the table. “Finally!” She moved her piece and took out Bruce’s last one. “Victory is mine!” She screeched as she pumped her fists in the air.

Bruce rolled his eyes. “Do you have to do that every time you beat me?”

“Oh, absolutely. It’s mandatory.” She said.

Bruce chuckled. “Okay, okay, now can we please do something else?”

Before Jennifer could reply, the doorbell suddenly rang, alarming their little schnauzer named Lucky who was snoozing on the couch moments before. He quickly jumped off the couch and started barking excitedly.

“Oh, hush, baby!” She walked over and opened the door.

“Who is it?” A suddenly very shy and serious Bruce asked.

She peered out and waved at the mailman who was already on her way back to her vehicle. She gathered the mail that was put in the holder and then closed the door.

“Oh it’s just the mail.”

Bruce sighed with relief. He hated unexpected socializing. 

Lucky calmed down and trotted back to the couch.

Jennifer quickly went through the mail and was about to set them down and go back to Bruce when something caught her eye: an large, important-looking envelope. Curious, she picked it up and gasped loudly.

Bruce turned around in his chair at the sound, his eyebrows raised. “Find something interesting?”

Her hands started shaking. “Oh, you could say that.” She slowly walked over to Bruce and handed him the envelope. 

Bruce started to laugh. He had never seen her react to anything like this. “Oh this better be goo-“ He froze when saw whose name was on the envelope and who it was from.

His jaw dropped.

He received a letter for the first time in, well, he couldn’t remember when. And not just from anyone either; it was from UA Academy, the most prestigious hero school in the entire country, if not the world. Harvard University couldn’t even compare.

“Uh, Bruce?”

Bruce just sat there for what seemed like an hour before he finally snapped back into reality.

“Huh?”

“You gonna open it and read what’s inside or are you content just staring at the envelope?” Jennifer leaned over his shoulder, antsy to know what UA wants with her cousin.

Bruce gulped. Surely he hasn’t somehow gotten into trouble with UA of all universities?

Reluctantly, at Jennifer’s insistence, he began to tear the envelope. He was tearing it so slowly Jennifer thought he was stalling again.

“I am not stalling! I’m just…nervous,” Bruce confessed when she accused him of delaying the inevitable.

“Then just open it already!” She was bouncing with anticipation.

“Okay, okay! Geeze.” Finally, after what seemed like hours, Bruce managed to open the envelope. With shaking hands, he picked up the letter and shoved it in his face. Jennifer almost fell into Bruce’s chair, she was leaning so hard.

“Uh, do you mind? I can’t read with you standing so close to me.” Truthfully, he just didn’t want her to know if he was in hot water with the school or not first.

“Ugh, okay, fine. But you better tell me every single word of what that letter says!” She grumpily walked over and sat in a large bean bag chair in the corner of the room.

Bruce nodded as he began to read.

15 minutes later, he reread the letter for the 10th time, his brain unable to comprehend the meaning of the words on the page.

Jennifer was losing her mind. “WELL? Are you gonna tell me what it says??”

Bruce simply stood up and handed her the letter and sat back down, his mind racing.

His cousin’s eyes eagerly scanned the page, almost as though she was reading a good book. A few moments later, she gasped.

“OH MY GOODNESS, OH MY GOODNESS! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!” Bruce’s cousin, Jennifer Banner squealed with glee when she finally finished carefully reading and scrutinizing the letter that Bruce had warily decided to show her. She lunged at the boy who was starting to regret his decision and wrapped him in a bearhug. “Congratulations!”

Bruce just sat in his soft bean bag chair, confused. “But I’ve never even applied to UA. So how am I even accepted into the school?” He nibbled his nails nervously.

His cousin looked over the letter again. “Well, actually, it says here you’re being invited to attend UA, so it’s even better than an acceptance letter!” She bounced up and down excitedly in her seat. “This is a huge honor!”

Bruce still didn’t know how to feel about this. He’d never done anything good in his entire life, nor would he probably ever, so why-

“Hey, you stop thinking those bad thoughts!” She scolded him. “You’ve done plenty of great things, and this letter proves it!” She gently grasped Bruce’s hand as she set the letter down on the table in front of him. Being an empath, she could tell when Bruce was thinking self-deprecative thoughts.

Bruce sighed. Sometimes he really hated his cousin’s quirk. But now, he was truly grateful for it. “So, let’s say I accept this invitation. What good would I be able to do? I’m not exactly the hero type.” Especially not with his evil quirk, he thought bitterly.

Jennifer sensed his resentment for his quirk and shook her head. “Bruce, how many times do I have to tell you? There’s no such thing as a villainous quirk. Only villainous people.” She saw him wince at those last words. Villainous people like his father, whose quirk he’d partially inherited.

The boy looked down and said nothing as he stared at the piece of paper that seemed to promise him a future. A part of him desperately wanted more than anything to accept the invitation. After all, it wasn’t everyday that he received invitations to attend top-ranked universities like UA. But still, he was too dangerous, too unstable, too-

His cousin suddenly reached up and lightly smacked his cheek, knocking the sad child out of his self-deprecation. She rolled her eyes at his shocked face. “I told you to stop thinking like that!” She sighed. Why was he like this? She crossed her arms in frustration. “Look, this is your choice, so nobody’s going to force you to go if you don’t want to. But just remember that opportunities like this don’t come around very often.” She leaned back into her chair as her eyes darted to the other room. 

Bruce sighed guiltily. He didn’t need psychic powers to deduce how much Jennifer wanted to be the recipient of his letter. Ever since she was 5 years old, like every other little kid, she wanted to be a pro hero and attend a hero school when she grew up. Bruce still remembered how excited she was when she first got her quirk. She was convinced she would be the first pro hero without any fighting skills. Bruce hated seeing her disappointment when she didn’t get in to any hero schools. “I-i still don’t know.”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to decide right now. After all, you have the rest of the summer to think about it.” She got up and sat on the couch with Lucky, who happily hopped on her lap. She scratched his ears. “Oh, and Bruce, just remember: you received this letter for a reason.”

Bruce thought about that statement for weeks afterward.

One morning, a few weeks away from the start of school, Jennifer was already organizing her school supplies. In her room, she was she stressing out as she struggled to zip up her very fat backpack. 

“Ugh, this never gets any easier,” she grumbled as she attempted to push her several notebooks into her overstuffed bag. 

“Need some help?”

Jennifer turned around to see her cousin standing in the doorway, who was trying his best to keep a straight face. 

Jen scoffed. “Of course not. I am perfectly capable of zipping up my own backpack, thank you very much.” Her unmoving zipper said otherwise.

Bruce shrugged, now grinning. “Suit yourself.” He turned to walk away but then stopped turned back around. “Oh, by the way, I thought about what you said, and so I came by to tell you that I’m gonna do it.”

Jennifer almost managed to zip up her backpack. “That’s great.” She kept tugging at the zipper. Then she paused, confused. “Wait, what are you gonna do?”

Bruce snorted. The girl could read minds yet could forget important life changing events in an instant. “I’m going to accept the invitation to attend UA.”

It was as if Bruce had told her he just won the lottery. She immediately dropped her backpack and ran over to him, giving him the biggest bearhug. “That’s amazing! You gotta tell my parents immediately so we can all celebrate!”

That night, Bruce’s aunt and uncle took them out to eat at a fancy restaurant in light of Bruce’s news. They were so ecstatic when he first told them about his decision that they decided to treat him and Jennifer to a nice dining experience since they were rarely ever able to do so.

“Wow, Bruce, you should accept invitations to prestigious universities more often,” Jennifer said as she chomped down on a juicy lobster claw.

“Haha, yeah,” Bruce said, not really listening. He was still wondering if he had really made the right choice. 

“Yes, we’re all really proud of you, sweetie!” His aunt told him cheerfully. “After all, not just anyone gets invited to the most distinguished school in the country!” 

His uncle nodded. “I remember when I was applied to UA. Obviously, as you can see, that didn’t work out.” He chuckled as he stabbed a piece of lobster with his fork and shoved it into his mouth. “So good job, sport! You’re gonna be a great hero.”

Bruce was truly grateful for their support, but still, he couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t worry about him having to use his quirk, considering how dangerous it was.

As if reading his mind, probably because she was, Jennifer spoke up. “Yeah, with your quirk, you’re bound to stand out as a hero! In a good way!” She added when she saw the expression on Bruce’s face.

Bruce smiled weakly. “Thanks.” He really wished Jennifer would stop reading his mind. It got quite annoying at times. He took a bite of his lobster as he silently sent a mental message to his cousin, telling her to please stop reading his mind.

“Sorry, but you know I can’t help it when you’re thinking those things about yourself. Plus I literally can’t help it, being this close to you and all,” she thought back to him. 

Bruce sighed. Fair enough. 

“So, Bruce, are you feeling nervous? You’ve been awful quiet ever since you told us the big news.” His aunt looked at him. She looked a little worried.

Bruce thought about how to respond. He remembered how his aunt and uncle reacted when he first showed them the letter. At first, they were thrilled for him, but then later on, his aunt started to worry about him having to use his quirk and began wondering out loud if he was ‘ready’ to attend such a school. 

He fiddled with his fork. “To be honest, I am a little nervous. But then again, when am I not?” He tried to joke. To his displeasure, nobody laughed. He blushed as he tried again. “I-i mean, I’m actually just nervous about the classes and the people, since I haven’t gone to public school in ages.” That was only partially true. Bruce was worried about everything. Because he’s practically been homeschooled ever since he first got his quirk, Bruce’s social skills weren’t in the best shape. 

“Don’t worry; I’m sure you’ll make at least a few good friends at school.” Jennifer tried. “Then again, it’s UA, so it’s probably way different than regular civilian schools like mine.” She saw the panicked look on Bruce’s face and immediately tried again. “But I’m sure there’ll be plenty of nice people at UA since it’s a hero school, and heroes are usually good people.” 

Bruce relaxed a little. She did have a point. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Of course she is. You’re going to make all of us proud.” His aunt smiled at him.


End file.
